Southbridge students to split up, into separate middle, high school entrances

SOUTHBRIDGE 
Beginning Monday, students in Grades 6-8 and those in Grades 9-12 will enter Southbridge Middle/High School through separate entrances, acting Superintendent Basan Nembirkow told the School Committee Tuesday night.

In addition, Assistant Principal Jill R. Carroll and a secretary and bilingual social worker will be stationed in the middle school administrative section of the new building on Torrey Road.

Since the building opened to students in September, students have flowed in through one entrance, and school administrators have been situated on the high school side.

Former Superintendent Eric D. Ely, who resigned last month, had said he viewed the middle-high school as one building led by one principal. His idea deviated from a decadelong plan by a building committee to have the building serve as essentially two schools under one roof.

That caused dissension between Mr. Ely, who had been on leave from November for a complaint of misconduct, and some school board members.

Mr. Nembirkow, who began as the acting school chief on Jan. 2, said it was clear to him that “a lot of good thought and good planning went into developing ”a concept of a distinct middle school and high school."

With the change, he said, a parent with a middle school concern can go to the right place to get a response.

“That's the way it should have been done from Day 1,” Mr. Nembirkow said. “It says 'middle school' etched in stone. It wasn't put up by crayon.”

In addition, Director of Pupil Personnel Services Colleen Culligan was to meet Wednesday morning with high school staff to review adjustments to special education regarding class sizes in the building, Mr. Nembirkow said.

“We're looking at the structure of one or two classes we were concerned about, where we have age spans that were too broad,” he said.

The next step is to set forth an administrative structure that will support special education, which will be based on requirements for evaluation, he said.

“We have no one there that had certification in special education that can evaluate teachers, and we have the largest number of special education teachers there,” Mr. Nembirkow said.

The changes, he said, have “ruffled feathers” because “people gravitate to what they like to do, not what's necessary for kids' learning.”

In the next month or two, Mr. Nembirkow said, he would present the committee with a plan for an administrative structure.